Case study – The Clifton college crest

We were approached by the Clifton college OC to create a special piece to be auctioned off at their annual dinner, to be held that year at the Globe Theatre. They were looking for a piece that would be loved by any of the OC and would help raise funds for scholarship students.

After a long conversation with various members of the OC we decided on sticking with the shield logo that is on every uniform and banner from the day the school was founded. This is a chevron representing faithful service, with wheat sheaf representing the harvesting of the bearers hopes, a crown representing crowning achievements, victory and sovereignty and books representing counsel and learning.

We sourced coloured silks to match the crest alongside the traditional gold and coloured metal threads, which have been used for centuries in the embroidery of crests. The metal threads come from Benton and Johnson the UK’s last metal thread maker.

The piece was worked on white silk, and areas padded out to add definition, we also added the school moto in red gold.

They were ecstatic with the piece and it was sold to the head of school for a total of 4500 pounds and gifted to the colleges archive, it now hangs in the heads office.